


Wash it Away

by WakeUpDreaming



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Established Relationship, Explosions, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, Making Love, Post-Case, showering together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-18 11:53:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5927389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakeUpDreaming/pseuds/WakeUpDreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Happy's got the memory of the explosion in her mind and, horribly, on her skin. But Toby's there to care for her, and she realizes the depth of her feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wash it Away

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "Just relax, I’ll wash your hair for you.” And for a conversation Tara lattelibrapunk and I had about Toby's reaction if Happy said "I love you" first.

“Just relax,” Toby murmurs, “I’ll wash your hair for you.”

Happy is trying to keep herself from shaking, but she can’t steady her hands long enough to pick the hem of her shirt up to pull it over her head.

“Hap, it’s okay,” he says. “Do you need a minute?”

Happy nods, unable to speak as her body turns from shaking hands into a full shiver across her body. Without thinking, she turns and buries her face into Toby’s chest, holding onto his shirt as tightly as she can. His strong hands hold her close, provide some sort of stability that she can’t find for herself.

“He blew up in front of me,” Happy murmurs into his shirt. “Toby, I can’t get it out of my head.”

“I know, sweetheart,” he says, and even when she’s covered in blood he takes the moment to kiss her forehead. “You’re okay, though?”

She nods. “Physically, yeah,” she answers, “but mentally -”

"I know," Toby replies. "Me too." He holds her close. "I'm so glad you're alright."

She nods against his chest.

“Come on, sweetheart," Toby murmurs, "let's get you into the shower. You don’t need to undress. We can just get everything off your skin, warm you up.”

The heat of the water, and of the steam rising around them begins to soothe Happy’s shakes, bring her down from the adrenaline-fueled terror that had taken her over for two hours now.

“I wish you’d let me taken you to the hospital,” Toby says quietly. “I’m worried the shock could be masking some physical symptoms.”

“I’m fine,” Happy replies, turning so the water can rinse through her hair. She closes her eyes so she doesn’t have to watch the water from her skin, hair, clothing run red. “I’ve got the best doctor taking care of me.”

Toby’s hands rub up and down her arms, warming her up. “I try,” Toby replies, a smile in his voice.

Toby gets shampoo and lathers her hair, and it feels so nice that Happy almost forgets the sights she’s seen in the past day. There's something about how gently Toby's taken care of her that strikes her, deep in her heart. “I love you,” she says quietly.

Toby’s fingers freeze in her hair. For a moment Happy thinks he didn’t hear her, but when she turns to look at him, he’s staring at her like he’s never seen her before.

“Toby?” she asks, concerned. “Are you okay?”

He nods, slowly. “I thought I was going to say it first,” he says, dumbfounded.

She smiles. “Well, the moment seemed right,” she replies, tilting her head so the water isn’t shooting in her face.

Toby moves his head to stop the water. “Better?”

Happy nods. “You going to say it?”

“Hmm?” Toby asks.

She shrugs. “Are you going to say it?”

He brushes some shampoo away from her forehead. “Happy Quinn,” he says, looking at her with this expression Happy’s never seen before, “I’ve loved you for longer than I ever thought was possible. I’m just a little in shock that you love me, too.”

She shrugs. “You once told me you could take better care of me,” she replies, “and I didn’t believe it, because I always took care of myself. And then you have. Over and over again. And I think,” she cups his cheeks, unsure of how to communicate this with words and actions, “I believe it, Toby. I believe in what we are.”

The next move happens so quickly that she’s hardly ready for it, and if Toby’s arms weren’t as strong and steady, she would have slipped. He kisses her gently but with meaning behind it, like he’s the one who doesn’t know what words to use this time. When he pulls away there’s a desperation in his eyes she’s never seen before.

“I can’t believe I almost lost you today,” he croaks out.

“But you didn’t,” Happy replies. “I’m fine. Okay? Also, I’m getting soap in my eyes. Can you –”

“Oh, yes.”

Toby goes back to washing her hair, and Happy begins unbuttoning her jeans.

“What are you doing?” Toby asks, fingertips carding through her hair pleasantly.

“I am taking off my pants,” she replies. “Because I’m covered in blood and guts and it’s freaking me out.”

“Good deal,” Toby says.

“But you can take your clothes off, too,” Happy adds. “I’m sure it’ll be more comfortable.”

“You’ve got a point.”

Her hair is washed and clean, and Toby makes sure there’s no more residue on her body from the explosion. He’s careful and clinical, and it doesn’t take long before Happy feels herself falling back into her normal reaction to stress, wanting to pull away and hide from everything. But she doesn’t have to do that now.

“Toby,” she says, noticing that he's still dressed, “take off your clothes.”

“Okay,” he says, looking confused. “Any reason?”

“I don’t like the idea that I almost died today without,” she stumbles on her words, “without you knowing, without hearing that I love you. And I do. I love you.” And now she’s not stumbling anymore – she can’t stop talking. “I never want to risk losing you again.”

Toby nods. “Okay,” he manages.

Happy doesn’t know how to explain that, when she’s close to Toby, when she feels him move with her, she feels more alive than she ever has in her life. That when he’s whispering her name in her ear, telling her how he feels, that’s when she knows that she’s here and present and human.

And she wants to be the one whispering “I love you” tonight.

Their drenched clothing is dropped into the bathtub after Happy helps Toby out of his shirt, taking the time to feel, to touch, to kiss the heat of his skin. It doesn’t take long for him to understand what the moment means, to press his lips against her so it sets her skin on fire and makes her whisper Toby’s name like a prayer.

“I love you,” she says when they fall together on the bed. He whispers it back when he runs his hands along her skin, holds her close as they press lips along skin, press hips to each other. This is different than every other time, means even more than it has before. She loves him, he knows it. She knows now what he means by making love, because here they are, and this moment has broken down a barrier that she never knew was up.

“I love you,” she says when they slide together like puzzle pieces, a connection Happy never imagined could mean this much to her. It’s more than it was with other people, she knows that now. She wants to be in his arms until her heart stops beating, because it’s fallen into his hands and she knows he’ll care for it without having to be asked.

“I love you,” she moans into his mouth when he kisses her, when his lips tell her the story of how he fell for her and how he’ll never give up on her. The gasps that fall from his mouth remind her that this is as much of a milestone for him as it is for her, that he knows how much he means to her and that it means more to him because of that.

“I love you,” she whispers when she grips at his hair, the moment washing over her like a wave, and she feels like a different person when she comes down from the high.

“I love you,” he moans alongside her name when he falls apart, his forehead resting against hers and his lips repeating her name like it’s the thing anchoring him to this world.

It’s long afterward before either of them speaks again, but their limbs are resting together in the sheets of their bed, another reminder that they’re forever entangled.

His fingertips trail up and down her back, and if he could touch her for the rest of her life, Happy would never doubt her reasons for existing again.

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” he finally says pulling her close. She shifts so her head is pillowed on his chest. “I was so scared we lost you.”

“Well,” Happy says, “you didn’t.” She buries her face in his chest when the memory sparks across her mind like lightning, a memory she’ll never forget but doesn’t want to see ever again.

“You okay?” he asks.

She nods. “First time I’d thought about it in a while,” she says quietly. “You did a good job of keeping it off my mind.”

He kisses the top of her head. “Whatever I can do,” he murmurs.

She shifts so she can look at him, her chin resting on his chest. “Thank you for choosing me,” she says.

“No way,” Toby says. “Thank you for choosing me.”

“I love you,” Happy says in response, because now that she’s said it she can’t think of any words that taste better on her lips.

Toby smiles at her, brushing her hair over her shoulder, his fingertips lingering on her skin. “I’m never going to get tired of hearing that,” he says.

“Good,” Happy replies, “because I like saying it.” She smiles at him.

“Now you know why I’ve said it, or nearly said it, a million times,” he slides his hand up her arm until he takes her hand, kissing her palm, “once you feel it, it’s hard to hold it back.” He smiles at her. “I love you.”

She slides up to kiss him softly, just enough to say the words against his lips. “I love you, too.”


End file.
